• The NPP Government introduced the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2003 to replace the inhumane “cash-and-carry” system under the NDC. The NHIS was first mooted in 1970 by the Progress Party under Professor K.A. Busia who constituted a committee headed by Dr. Konotey Ahulu to study the concept and make appropriate recommendations. The NHIS, which now covers about half the population (11.3 million Ghanaians), provides a vastly more accessible and comprehensive health service unmatched in the history of our country. The NHIS provides free healthcare for children below 18 and the elderly over the age of 70. Over 6 million children and 400,000 elderly are currently benefiting from the service. All pregnant women now have free maternal care. Under the NHIS, HIV positive individuals now receive highly subsidised anti-retroviral medicines.
• The introduction of the NHIS has led to a three-fold increase in hospital attendance in some areas. Out Patients Department (OPD) attendance has increased from a yearly average of 0.38 per capita in 2001 to 0.7 per capita in 2007. In areas such as the Brong Ahafo region, OPD attendance has reached the 1.02 mark. More and more people who need to use our health service now have the means to do so under NHIS.
• The NPP government has expanded health facilities at a rate unprecedented in our history. In only seven years, our administration has constructed, throughout the country, 205 new hospitals and clinics including 310 key district hospital facilities in Eastern, Volta and Northern Regions. 48 clinics have been upgraded to hospitals and 33 hospitals and clinics have undergone complete rehabilitation. 77 new projects are ongoing throughout the country with 18 to be completed this year. 21 dental facilities have been constructed. A US$339 million project, covering the construction of new regional and district hospitals, has been initiated at Wa, Kumasi South, Manhyia, Konongo-Odumasi, Adenta/Madina, Tepa and Salaga. 6 new polyclinics are being constructed at a cost of €7.6 million at Karaga, Kpandai, Tatale, Buipe, Janga and Chereponi.
• The construction of health facilities is matched by massive investment in training health professionals, as shown in the following table:

General Nursing 648 2,434

Community Health Nursing 102 1,841

Midwifery 48 614

Health Assistants (New) 0 964

Others 170 1,212

From less than 1,000 in 1999/2000 the intake of health worker trainees had jumped to over 7,000 by 2006/2007. Over a short period of 6 years, Ghana is firmly on the road to producing the required numbers of health manpower for our health institutions.

• Doctors and other health workers receive the highest salaries ever paid in this country and are now among the best paid in Africa. The government of the NPP has made significant improvements in the service conditions of doctors and health workers. For the first time in our history, a College of Physicians and Surgeons has been established to provide and supervise post graduate medical training in Ghana. As a result, Ghana today retains 60% of locally trained doctors in contrast to 20% under NDC.
• The NPP Government has established a National Ambulance System for the first time in the history of this country to cater for medical emergencies throughout the country.
• In the 5 years before 2001, only 51% of all children were fully immunised. This figure had risen to 64.4% by 2006. Guinea worm disease which is a disease of poverty has reduced from over 8,000 in 2003 to 3,358 in 2007 and signs are that we are well on the way to eradication. Ghana was also certified free from polio in 2006 as a result of the strong emphasis in surveillance.
• These are all signs that Ghana is on the way to becoming a healthier nation. Within a space of just 8 years, we have managed to stem and turn around the deteriorating health fortunes of this country.

NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME

(P)NDC:1981– 2001(19 YEARS IN POWER)

The (P)NDC in 19 years operated the Cash & Carry system as part of its health delivery policy. Serious illness under the system for many meant mortuary, it needlessly sent hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians to their early graves who couldn’t afford to pay, and child and maternal mortality rates were very high.

The NDC ‘violently’ opposed the introduction of the NHIS, walking out of Parliament rather than voting for the law to bring into effect the NHIS and joining like-minded groups to hold street demonstrations against the scheme.

NPP: 2001 – 2008(8 YEARS IN POWER)

A landmark achievement of the NPP has been the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2003 to replace the deadly Cash and Carry system. As at June 2008, a total of 11 million Ghanaians accounting for over 50% of the national population have registered into the NHIS and have started benefiting from the scheme.

It provides a vastly more accessible and comprehensive health service unmatched in the history of our country with free healthcare for over 6 million children below 18 and the 400,000 registered elderly over the age of 70. All pregnant women now have free maternal care. Under the NHIS, HIV positive individuals now receive highly subsidised anti-retroviral medicines.

HOSPITALS BUILDING

The (P)NDC in 19 years built three modern Regional Hospitals in Ho, Cape Coast and Sunyani, concentrating access to health services in the urban centres i.e. the regional capitals, which when coupled with its Cash & Carry system denyied access to quality health for many rural people.

Whereas In only seven years, our administration has constructed, throughout the country, 205 new hospitals and clinics including 310 key district hospital facilities in Eastern, Volta and Northern Regions. 48 clinics have been upgraded to hospitals and 33 hospitals and clinics have undergone complete rehabilitation – including massive rehabilitations on the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the 37 Military Hospitals. 77 new projects are ongoing throughout the country with 18 to be completed this year. 21 dental facilities have been constructed. A US$339 million project, covering the construction of new regional and district hospitals, has been initiated at Wa, Kumasi South, Manhyia, Konongo-Odumasi, Adenta/Madina, Tepa and Salaga. 6 new polyclinics are being constructed at a cost of €7.6 million at Karaga, Kpandai, Tatale, Buipe, Janga and Chereponi.

HEALTH WORKER TRAINING

Under the 19-year (P)NDC rule intake into our health training institutions including the Medical Schools, the Nurses Training Colleges, School of Hygiene and other technical training schools in the field of health stagnated, with no expansion in facilities nor in the number of students admitted.

In only 8 years, the NPP has more than doubled the intake of students and trainees into all of our health training institutions: the Medical Schools, the Nurses Training Colleges, School of Hygiene and other technical training schools in the field of health. In nursing, midwifery and health assistants, training intake has increased seven-fold from 968 in 1999/2000 to 7,065 in 2006/07.The NPP has also established a Medical School in the University of Cape Coast and encouraged the establishment of private Nurses Training institutions in the country to train more nurses. Furthermore, the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons has received a donation of an ultra modern office complex from the NPP led Government.

HEALTH WORKERS SALARIES’

The very low salaries earned by health workers under the 19 year rule of the (P)NDC was a major push factor which sent most of them away into Europe, America and the Gulf region.

Within 8 years under the NPP, the salaries of health workers in Ghana have increased by an average of 500% in dollar terms, stemming the brain drain tide among health workers with Ghana today retaining 60% of locally trained doctors in contrast to 20% under the NDC. Ghana’s health workers are now the second best paid in Africa currently only after South Africa. Under the NPP health workers can import cars without duty and taxes. Many of them (including nurses) can now afford to buy brand new cars through hire purchase arrangements. This is unprecedented in Ghana.

VOTE NANA AKUFO-ADDO AND THE NPP FOR A BETTER GHANA AND A BETTER HEALTH SECTOR.VOTE THE NUMBER ONE ON THE BALLOT.

• We have reformed the structure and content of basic education to include 2 years of kindergarten, 6 years of primary school and 3 years of Junior High School. A new curriculum has been introduced to improve quality and impart skills relevant to the job market.
• The NPP government has constructed 765 new school blocks at basic level throughout the country, in addition to 150 3-unit classroom blocks and 231 6-unit classroom blocks to replace schools under trees. Overall, the number of schools (public and private) increased by a third at the basic level in the period 2000/01 to 2007/08.
• We have introduced the School Feeding Programme, Capitation Grant and free Metro Bus ride for children in basic school in order to make education affordable and accessible to all Ghanaians. Nearly half a million children now benefit from the School Feeding Programme which will be extended to all children in the next 2 years.
• Enrolment in public basic school now stands at almost 5 million compared to 2.7 million in 2000, before the NPP came into office. Pre-School enrolment has doubled. Primary school and Junior High School enrolment has increased by 50% because of these policies. Of equal significance is the fact that enrolment at the Senior High School level has more than doubled (See table below).

Level No. of Schools Enrolment

2000/01 2007/08 2000/01 2007/08

Pre-School 5,976 11,140 649,677 1,258,483

Primary 11,916 13,247 2,477,990 3,622,724

JHS 6,133 7,267 804,419 1,224,964

SHS 474 493 204,000 454,681

• Teachers at the basic school level are now paid five times more than what they were paid in the year 2000.
• The NPP government established the University of Mines and Technology (formerly KNUST School of Mines) at Tarkwa in the Western Region, the UDS Campus and the two Polytechnics in Wa and Bolgatanga in the Upper West and Upper East regions, respectively.
• Enrolment in public universities has more than doubled – from 40,670 in 2000/01 to 88,445 in 2006/07. Enrolment in polytechnics also rose by more than 50% in that period from 18,470 in 2000/2001 to 28,695 in 2006/2007.

Level No. of Institutions Enrolment

2000/01 2006/07 2000/01 2006/07 % increase

University 5 6 40,670 88,445 117%

Private Univ. 4 16 1,667 18,278 996%

Polytechnic 10 10 18,470 28,695 55%

Professional Ins. 3 3 2,013 4,350 116%

• The number of private universities quadrupled from only four in the year 2000/01 to sixteen in 2006/07 with enrolment increasing sharply from less than 1,700 to over 18,000 in the same period.
• Under the policy of providing one model Senior High School for each District, 31 such schools have been constructed and 25 are nearing completion under the first phase. This programme shall be accelerated to benefit all Districts in the first term of the incoming NPP administration.

The substantial expansion in both educational infrastructure and in enrolment at all levels of the educational system clearly represents the solid foundation which has been laid by the NPP administration for the future requirements of a modern society.

From comparison document:

Education

(P)NDC:1981– 2001(19 YEARS IN POWER)

NPP: 2001 – 2008(8 YEARS IN POWER)REORMSThe (P)NDC’s Educational Reform Programme was autocratically imposed and implemented. Any dissent to it was massively repressed, creating huge frustrations for all stakeholders including the pupils/students, teachers and parents. In fact the quality of Ghana’s education system declined seriously under the (P)NDC’s watch.

Whilst Within 8 years in power, the NPP has introduced far reaching reforms into our formal educational system in order to render the educational system more relevant to our developmental goals and aspirations as a nation. We have reformed the structure and content of basic education to include 2 years of kindergarten, 6 years of primary school and 3 years of Junior High School. The pre-school stage which previously fell outside the mainstream school system has now been fully integrated.A new curriculum has been introduced to improve quality and impart skills relevant to the job market, including the teaching of ICT.

SCHOOL ENROLMENT

The (P)NDC’s educational policies hardly increased enrolment levels. Under the (P)NDC, basic education was run strictly on a cash and carry basis. There were hardly any incentives for parents and the children to get kids enrolled in school.

Whereas The NPP has succeeded in almost doubling public basic school enrolment under its watch, as a result of the massive investment in education (from 3.8% of GDP in 2000 to 6.1 in 2007) and policies such as the Capitation Grant, School Feeding Programme, and Free Metro Bus Ride for school children. Senior High School enrolment has more than doubled.

SCHOOL BUILDINGS

What the (P)NDC offered us in the name of classroom blocks were a few hundred open sheds which they called school pavilions concentrated mostly in areas of the country considered to be their strongholds.

Whilst The NPP has built 765 new school blocks at basic level throughout the country, in addition to 150 3-unit classroom blocks and 231 6-unit classroom blocks to replace schools under trees. Additionally the NPP has upgraded the first batch of 38 selected secondary schools across the country into first class schools with modern infrastructure, facilities & equipment. The Volta Regional Chairman of the NDC who was also a former Minister of the Region is on record as having expressed shock at the development projects including schools that the NPP Government had within 4 years delivered to all parts of the Volta Region.

PUBLIC UNIVERSTIES

The (P)NDC set up 2 public universities (UDS and Winneba) but their efforts over two decades simply do not compare to those of the NPP in 8.

The NPP within 8-years has opened one public university - the University of Mines at Tarkwa. Enrolment in the public Universities jumped from a total of 40,673 in 2000/2001 to 88,400 in 2006/2007 – more than double. Total enrolment into all Polytechnics increased from 18,459 in 2000/2001 to 28,700 in 2007/2008 – a 55% increase. In addition the number of students on distance education programme has been expanded and supported by the NPP Government.There has also been massive infrastructural development under the NPP in terms of new faculty blocks, administration, hostels, libraries, lecture theatres etc. E.g. Ho Polytechnic in the Volta Region.

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

Private universities may have started under the NDC but they have only really blossomed under the conducive environment created by the NPP.

Whilst Between 2001 and 2007 the total number of accredited private universities in Ghana leapt from 4 to 16 – a quadrupling of their number. Total enrolment in these private universities within the same period had increased by nearly 1000% from 1,667 to 18,278.

TRAINING COLLEGES

No such reforms to improve teacher quality were conceived of, let alone implemented, by the (P)NDC while in power.

Under the NPP’s New Educational policy, all Teachers Training as well as Nurses Training Colleges have been upgraded into Diploma-awarding tertiary institutions. This policy is being followed up by another dose of massive investment to expand and improve infrastructure and facilities in all these institutions

This and many more will the Nana Akufo-Addo government do for Ghanaians.Lets vote for Akufo-Addo and the NPP for a better GHANA.

Agriculture is the king-pin of Ghana’s economic development. It is recognized as such in all Ghana’s previous development plans and the poverty reduction strategy documents since NPP assumed office.

The main vision of the NPP Government is a modernized agriculture culminating in a structurally transformed economy and evident in food security, employment opportunities and reduced poverty.

The policy of the NPP Government is to modernize agriculture to accelerate rural development. This NPP policy is expected to lead to high growth and the structural transformation of the economy. The policy will also maximize the benefits of accelerated growth. This translates to a targeted growth of 6% for the crop and livestock sub-sector, forestry & logging at 5%, fisheries at 5%, and 8% for the cocoa sector.

The NPP Government since assuming office in 2001 has worked hard to bring massive and real growth in this sector as shown below.

YEAR GROWTH RATE

2000 2.1%

2002 4.4%

2006 6.5%

This growth has translated into major increases in food production and has helped Ghana achieve self-sufficiency in most of the staple food crops including yam, maize, plantain, cocoyam and cassava, etc.

INCREASE IN COCOA PRODUCTION

The NPP Government has achieved growth in food and agriculture by raising productivity. A typical example is the doubling of cocoa production since assuming office as shown below.

YEAR COCOA PRODUCTION (metric tons)

2000 350,000

2006 750,000

The NPP Government’s policy of MASS SPRAYING (which created about 50,000 jobs in the cocoa growing areas), and the application of SUBSIDISED FERTILIZERS has doubled the average yield per acre of cocoa, a remarkable achievement. Additionally, the NPP Government has increased producer prices four-fold. This has boosted cocoa farmer’s income to a level not seen since independence; as shown below. A Comparison of prices paid to farmers for a 64kg bag of cocoa before and after NPP assumed office is as follows:

YEAR PRICE PAID

2000 GHc21.7 (c217, 000)

2008 GHc102 (c1, 020, 000)

It must also be emphasized that before 2000, the previous government paid BONUSES in 1992 and 1996 ONLY. However, the NPP Government in comparison has paid SIX BONUSES in the last seven years. It is now the policy of the NPP Government to pay BONUSES twice every year. A total of c608.2 billion bonus payments have been made since 2001 when NPP assumed office. In order to improve crop yields, the NPP Government has also REDUCED by 50% the prices of fertilizer paid by small farmers. The fertilizer NPK (15:15:15) was reduced from GHc52 to GHc26 per bag. Small scale farmers are also being supplied with farm inputs on credit.

FARM LANDS IRRIGATION

The NPP Government has embarked on the rehabilitation of all the large irrigation dams in the country. This is to provide more water to ensure the possibility of planting two crops per year in many farming communities; especially in the north. The NPP Government has rehabilitated ten (10) seriously deteriorated irrigation facilities. They include Weija, Aveyime, Afife, Sata, Kpando Torkor, Mankessim, Tanoso, Akumadan, Subinja, and Bolgatanga. This has increased the total crop area from 922 to 2,326 hectares. In addition, the Tono Irrigation Project Rehabilitation will be completed in 2008. Other NPP Developments since assuming office in 2001 are as follows:

· Eighty(80) new small Dams and Dug-outs

· Twenty-two(22) New Pumping Schemes along major rivers

· Five Hundred and Thirty( 530) hectares of valley bottom sites for the production of 5,670 tons of paddy rice

· Importation of twenty-three(23) Drilling Rigs to support groundwater abstraction for irrigation in seven(7) regions

· Provision of eight hundred (800) portable pumping machines in the three (3) northern regions to facilitate irrigation farming in the dry season.

· Feasibility study for the Accra Plains Irrigation Project

· Revision of the Kaanbaa Irrigation Project in Lawra

STORAGE and PROCESSING

The NPP Government, mindful of post-harvest handling and losses, has installed Processing Facilities to process more cocoa, fruits, and tomato. It has also rehabilitated a number of Warehouses for the storage of grains during harvesting. Strategic storage locations of stock include Ejura, Wenchi, and Sunyani

FARM MECHANISATION

The NPP Government’s commitment to the mechanization of agriculture cannot be understated. The NPP Government has imported the following equipment to assist in the mechanization process since the assumption of office in 2001:

· 2,052 new Tractors with Implements

· 400 multi-purpose Threshers

· 30 Mechanical and Solar Dryers

· 20 Oil Palm and Sheabutter Processing Machines

· 30 Fruit and Vegetable Processing Machines

· 1600 pieces of Vari-mini lower capacity Tractors

· 326 Power TillersThe NPP Government has also established nine (9) Mechanization Service Centers across the country to improve farmers’ access to mechanization services. This is especially welcome for the farmers who cannot afford to own agricultural machines. Since assuming office, the NPP Government has also reduced POVERTY LEVELS in the agriculture sector (farming population) from a high of 51.7% in 1999 to 28.5% in 2005. This is a remarkable achievement!

FISHERIES

The fact that a new Ministry of Fisheries has been established by NPP Government goes to underscore the importance it attaches to this essential source of protein. It is improving infrastructure, enhancing investment, and providing support to small-scale fishermen. The Ministry has encouraged AQUACULTURE and is providing support as follows:

· Construction of fourteen (14) Fishing Harbors along the entire coastline including Western, Central, and Greater Accra Regions. The harbors will have landing sites, areas for mending nets, fuel depots, administration blocks, fish markets, power stations, net storage sheds, and day care centers

A Review of the NPP Government’s Management of the Ghana Socio-Economic Resurgence

NPP GOVERNMENT’S ACHIEVEMENT IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR

The NPP Government regards Education as the most important public good. It is therefore committed to the provision of quality and affordable Education for all Ghanaians.

The NPP Government’s main objective is to rebuild our educational system from nursery to university. This means providing quality educational facilities and infrastructure. It also means ensuring that favorable conditions and an enabling environment exist for an effective educational system.

Since 2001, the NPP Government has undertaken qualitative improvement and expansion in quality and affordable education. The policy initiatives and improvements instituted by the NPP Government since assuming office have been in the following areas:

1. School Enrollment

2. Infrastructure (primary, polytechnics, teacher training colleges, and universities)

3. Capitation Grant

4. School Feeding Programme

5. Teachers Remuneration

6. GET FUND

7. Government Subsidy to SSS

SCHOOL ENROLLMENT

Level No. of Schools Enrollment

2000/01 2007/08 2000/01 2007/08

Pre-school 5,976 11,140 649,677 1,258,483

Primary 11,916 13,247 2,477,990 3,622,724

JHS 6,133 7,267 804,419 1,224,964

SHS 474 493 204,000 454,681

The above analysis shows a significant increase in the number of schools and enrollment since NPP assumed office in 2001. The quantity and enrollment of Pre-School for example has doubled. In addition, Primary and Junior High Schools enrollment has increased by 50%, and that of Senior High Schools has doubled due to prudent policies adopted by the NPP Government. The policy of providing one Model Senior High School for each district is also on course. Thirty-one (31) of such schools have been constructed and twenty-five (25) are nearing completion. Below is an analysis of enrollment in Tertiary Institutions:

Level No. of Institutions Enrollment

2000/01 2007/08 2000/01 2007/08

University 5 6 40,670 88,445

Private Univ. 4 16 1,667 18,278

Polytechnic 10 10 18,470 28,695

Professional Inst. 3 3 2,013 4,350

A significant achievement is the increase in the number of Private Universities which has quadrupled as well as the enrollment. Polytechnic enrollment has also seen a significant increase of 50%. INFRASTRUCTURE (Primary, Polytechnics, Teacher Training, Universities)

Since assuming office, the NPP Government has constructed and established the following:

1. 765 new school blocks at basic level throughout the country

2. 150 (3- unit) classroom blocks

3. 231 (6- unit) classroom blocks

4. Establishment of the University of Mines and Technology

5. Establishment of the University of Developmental Studies campus

6. One (1) polytechnic in Wa (Upper West )

7. One (1) polytechnic in Bolgatanga (Upper East )

8. Modernisation and expansion of capacity in Universities and Polytechnics

The NPP Government has clearly laid a solid foundation due to the substantial expansion in both educational infrastructure and in enrollment at all levels of the educational system. Additionally, below is the comparison of the number of educational projects completed before and after the NPP Government took office.

1. Pre-school(Classroom) - 1,668
2. Primary(Classroom) 5,688 9,862
3. Second Cycle(Classroom) 160 6,417
4. Teacher Accommodation Units 4,719 6,178
5. Technical Education(Classrooms) - 178
6. Special Education(Classrooms) - 75
7. Universities(Lecture Halls) 6 19
8. Polytechnics(Lecture Halls) 6 128

The NPP Government started the Capitation Grant in 2005. The Capitation Grant has contributed immensely to the increase in enrollment at the basic level (please see section on school enrollment). The purpose of this policy is to remove barriers to enrollment and encourage participation and attendance. It also provides for expanded services as identified in School Performance Improvement Plans. Below are Government’s releases to date:

1. 2005 - C28.5 billion released to public primary schools in 53 deprived districts

2. 2005 - C95.0 billion released to cover ALL public basic schools in the country

3. 2006 - C129.5 billion released for pupils in public basic schools

4. 2007 - C138.9 billion released for pupils in public basic schools

5. 2008 – GHc 14.8 million released for pupils in public basic schools

IMPACT OF THE CAPITATION GRANT

The impact of the Capitation Grant has been huge. This is shown below in the Gross Enrollment Rate which is increasing every year.

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

Pre-school 55.37 60.14 85.30 86.10 89.9

Primary 85.70 86.50 92.10 93.70 95.2

JSS 69.60 70.20 74.70 74.80 78.8

SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME

This policy was first developed by the NPP Government as a pilot scheme in 2005. The policy is meant to enhance the nutritional status of school children and promote access, retention and quality of education. Initially, five (5) schools in each region were selected to start the pilot. The table below shows the increase in the number of schools and pupils participating in the program, and the numberse projected for 2009 and 2010. One can clearly see the benefits of the program!

Year No. of schools Pupils

2007 889 320,000

2008 1,556 560,000

2009 2,222 800,000

2010 2,889 1,040,000

The NPP Government has since the inception of the program to date spent approximately GHC 60,000,000 (600 billion cedis).

TEACHERS REMUNERATION(Analysis of Salary Increases 2000 & 2008)

GRADE YEAR 2000 YEAR 2008 % INC

GHc(per annum) GHc(per annum)

CERT A 317.35 3,105.00 978%

SENIOR SUPERINTENDENT 530.26 4,837.00 912%PRINCIPAL SUPERINTENDENT 602.87 5,608.00 930%ASSISTANT DIRECTOR 779.28 7,537.00 967%

Even with adjustment for inflation, the comparison clearly shows the quantum leap of teachers remuneration since NPP assumed office to the present

GET FUND

The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GET Fund) has disbursed a total of GHc 537,962,000 between 2001- 2007 when the NPP Government assumed office towards the improvement of education throughout the country. The funds have been invested in the following:

· Infrastructure

· Academic Facilities

· Hostels

· Research Activities

· Scholarships

· Provision of Vehicles

· Sporting Facilities T

he bulk of the funding has been devoted to the universities and polytechnics. It must be emphasized that the University of Development Studies (UDS) has received more support than any other institution for infrastructure and academic facilities on its campuses in Tamale, Nyankpala, Navrongo, and Wa. All the ten (10) Polytechnics in the country depend on the GET FUND for their infrastructural development. The Wa and Bolgatanga polytechnics have received funding exclusively towards the construction of their campuses which has enhanced admissions.

GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY TO SSS

This subsidy was introduced by the NPP Government when it assumed office in 2001. The table below shows the increase in the number of students, the rate given per student per annum, and the total amount per annum.

NO of STUDENTS RATE(cedis) AMOUNT(cedis) 2001/2002 270,224 310,000 83.77 billion

2005/2006 390,015 403,500 117.18billion 448,500

2006/2007 402,278 403,500 120.71 billion

448,500

2007/2008 415,990 403,500 169.15 billion

448,500

NOTE: The above information and statistics are extracts from 2005-2008 Budget, Ministry of Education, School Feeding Program, Get Fund Administration and NPP Manifesto.

There is a time in the affairs of a nation, when its people must take a principled stand for what they truly believe in. We are in such a time.

Ghana stands on the brink of history. The 2008 Elections will either catapult our country unto the top ranks of African success stories or slide us back into the slimy quagmire of electoral chaos, tribal conflict and unachieved potential. This will send the country backward into economic instability, capital flight, worsening unemployment, poverty and back towards dictatorship.

The choice is very clear. On one side is the NPP which presents a very clear message and vision of hope and moving forward towards first world status; founded on the rule of law, press freedom, political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of communication, freedom of criticism, freedom of association, freedom of worship.

On the other side we have the NDC which is threatening fire and brimstone. The NDC in the time leading to elections have proceeded to accuse every political institution that it does not control of attempting to and rigging the elections. It has attacked the NPP; it has attacked the Electoral Commission. It has attacked the Security Forces.

The NDC promises violence if the NDC does not win the elections. It has already made up its mind that it has to win the Elections. That if any other party, particularly the NPP, wins the Elections, then that party must have rigged the Elections. The NDC is not leaving it to the good people of Ghana to make their own choices. They already know that the good people of Ghana have spoken. And they have spoken for the NDC.

They assume that Ghanaians have forgotten why they rejected the NDC in 2000 and 2004. They prefer to think that Ghana rejected them because as a party they suffered from an economic downturn caused largely by external forces; also that they made some strategic mistakes in their election strategy, such as trying to impose unpopular parliamentary candidates on their teeming supporters. The NDC wants to think that way, let them think so. It is a free country.

The reason Ghanaians rejected the NDC was because they were fed up with their autocratic rule, lies, corruption and economic mismanagement. The patient and long-suffering Ghanaian people had lived through the murders, whippings, illegal jailing, seizures of private properties and commercial assets, interminable curfews (3 years), hunger and poverty of the PNDC era. They watched bemused as this same PNDC transformed itself into the NDC and stole the elections of 1992 and 1996 through brutality, rigging and intimidation. To those of us that lived through the period, what Mugabe has been doing in Zimbabwe is very familiar to us. Déjà vu as the French would say.

The fact is that Mugabe and Jerry John Rawlings are both professed believers of the democratization of violence. They both believe in using violence as a political strategy and tool.

Finally, in 2000, the people of Ghana threw off the yoke of political bondage and voted out the NDC.

Unfortunately, the other political parties, who know that they are minorities, instead of taking a principled stand against the preachers of war, are short-sightedly trying to score political points by portraying both the NPP and the NDC as parties at war, trying to woo voters from a perception that they themselves are creating. These parties are the PNC and the CPP.

Today, the CPP is also conveniently thinking that Ghanaians have forgotten that their mentor, Kwame Nkrumah, threw his compatriots into jail without trial, declared himself to be the Life President of a stolen democracy, irresponsibly shared the nation’s wealth amongst party functionaries and dragged the country’s economy into a smelly boiling cauldron of failed industries producing a broth of unpalatable and gagging inefficiency. This was a system of State Enterprises in which workers stayed at home and collected salaries after bribing timekeepers who would mark them as having reported for work. Some party member collected salaries from the Workers’ Brigade, State Farms Corporation and the State Housing Corporation at the same time. And no one could talk, because if you did, you were labeled a capitalist saboteur and went straight to detention. Fathers and mothers could not talk frankly at home because their indoctrinated children would report them to their Young Pioneer masters. The Boys Scouts and Girls Guide Movements were banned and the Young Pioneers made mandatory in all public schools.

Housing estates were built but only party functionaries had access to them. This is the CPP that Nduom and his gang want to lure our children into, baiting them with “work and happiness…...”Under the CPP there was happiness for the CPP members but no real work. All one needed was a party card. There certainly was no happiness for non-members of the CPP. There was no freedom of speech, no freedom of association, no freedom of criticism, no political freedom. Even members of the CPP who criticized Kwame Nkrumah or the leadership were thrown into prison. That is why the 1966 coup d’etat was necessary. There was no other way to restore the freedoms Ghana had gained at independence and which had been stolen from Ghanaians by the CPP.

So, we are where we are. We are a modernizing country, improving on many fronts: improving educational facilities, health facilities, better roads, deepening democracy, a stable currency, declining inflation. We now have a robust economy able to withstand external shocks such as the world fuel crisis, the global food crisis, the effects of the sub-prime mortgage debacle of the U.S.A., and now the global recession that the world is plunging into. Ghana’s international reputation is unparalleled in its 51 year history. The country enjoys peace with all its neighbors. We have become a true star of Africa. Ghanaians can now hold their heads high wherever they find themselves in the world.

No doubt we have challenges: institutional weaknesses, corruption, poverty, a still weak infrastructure, and a damaged national psyche still recovering from the trauma of Nkrumaist dictatorship, military and authoritarian rule. There is a tsunami of South American drug cartels washing over West Africa that is going to take all the courage and diplomatic skills that our leaders can muster in order to organize a regional answer to a regional invasion of drugs with incredible money and actual military weaponry behind them.

Yes, we are where we are. Are we going backward? Are we staying where we are? Or are we moving forward into a new vision? As Ama Ata Aidoo asks in her classic play, Dilemma of a Ghost, “Shall I go to Elmina; shall I go to Cape Coast? I don’t know, I can’t tell.

I don’t know I can’t tell.” Ghanaians must stand up and be counted. Not as undecided ghosts, but as men, women and youth of conviction, hope and belief in the innate ability of Ghana to arise and reach up for the skies. We must choose a man of vision and the courage to stick his neck out and say, “I believe in Ghana”.

The year is 2020. I’m a famous writer giving a rare interview to a budding journalist. She is pretty and articulate; with street-smart looks and an intriguing air of vulnerable naivety. The venue is a new plush twenty-five storey hotel set on a hill lush with greenery and overlooking an 18-hole golf course reaching out into the Atlantic Ocean: Takoradi in the twenty first century. Oil City.

Pretty’s real name is Angelina, and as her soft voice floats on the wave torn air with her questions, my mind, rather half of it, floats towards her with silent questions of my own, performing catlike dances and yawning with answers too personal to even fathom.

“Sir, why did you start writing; apparently you were a late starter”?

“Just call me Boafo. People write for different reasons” I responded slowly, picking my words the same way one picks one’s teeth after a heavy meal of fufu and tough goat meat soup. I started writing during the BIG campaign of 2008.”

As her eyes widened with questions, I continued; “No doubt you are asking yourself what….

She finished the sentence for me ‘the BIG campaign of 2008 was”

I answered with my eyes and a nod of the head. And continued.

“Yes, the BIG Campaign was the greatest, shrewdest and slickest political campaign machinery Ghana had ever experienced then. The Believe in Ghana Campaign of the New Patriotic Party was introduced by Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo.”

We have come far. The hand held communicator flipped open on the Frafra Red Granite table between us is recording and transmitting us worldwide unto the mobile phone screens of millions of viewers worldwide and simultaneously the interview is being translated and transcribed into all the major languages in the world. The communicator is manufactured by a Ghanaian company.Brand – Esoro.

‘BIG stands for Believe in Ghana. Nana Addo reached out into my Ghanaian soul, grabbed hold of it and did not let go until with tears streaming down my face, I began to write. I began to believe in myself. That I too, could write. Someone needed to write about Ghana. The Ghana that was. The Ghana that is. The Ghana that could and would be. I also needed to write for myself and to myself. Writing is thinking. Thinking is being. Good writing is.’

“What did you initially write about, you have written so much”, she asked.

‘I wrote about writers’ block. Of how our country had been beaten up, bruised and raped by history. Our men had become women and lost their courage. Our artists had forgotten to be themselves and our teachers and so-called intellectuals had lost the courage to think. The meaning of service had disappeared from the body politic and men and women thrust themselves into the public domain to be sex slaves in the grand orgy of power. Men without conviction wanted to be leaders of men. Women with neither brains nor sex appeal strutted on the catwalks of our national conscience, exposing themselves in a decadent dance of hopelessness against the grand larceny of international modeling agencies.’

“When exactly did you start writing about these things?”

“I came to myself in the second half of November 2008. I decided there and then that I was going to liberate myself from the mental slavery that most Ghanaians slept in, day and night after day and night. We did not read. We did not go to school. We did not debate and we did not think.”

“You are known to be a bit of a loner. How come?”

“I love people. But one must learn to be alone sometimes. And often. Being alone was viewed generally as being anti-sociable. But how could one think deeply if one could not be alone by oneself, meditate, reflect, and listen to one’s heartbeat. How could one love another without loving yourself? How could one love oneself without a mirror?

There was an obvious connection between education and thinking. Between thinking and believing in yourself. And there are different types of education. I realized that there is a difference in the education a free people give themselves and the education that is imposed on a servant by a master. In our case, our white colonial masters. Then our black political masters. Then our black military masters.”

“Can you explain further?” she asked.

Our white masters taught us to be administrative assistants. So we were taught not to question the status quo. Working with our hands was made to seem inferior. So we lost the art of creating machinery and equipment; of dismantling and reverse engineering. Children who dismantled things were branded as spoilers. Our salary structures were designed to make us dependent on monthly handouts whether we did good work or not. Ours was the enslavement of security and fear.

“I believe you wrote about that in your first novel, ‘The Whiteman’s Balm’

‘Yes, but I was not the only African writer to have done so.’

“And what do you say about the black masters?”

‘Our black political masters taught us to spend and share what we had not created. We received salaries not for work done, but for the party we belonged to. Jobs for the boys. Unearned salaries in people’s pockets.’

“But Kwame Nkrumah. Was he not the great African Liberator?” She countered, her shy smile played around the young lips shining with lip gloss in the shadowy African evening.

“Nkrumah played at liberating the dark continent of Africa while he threw his compatriots into the dungeons of Preventive Detention, itself a convenient import from India. He and the CPP refuted our people’s right to dissent, free speech and association. From this slippery road it was very easy to slide into military intervention and dictatorship.”